Iran and the UBL Tape

I have found fantastic analysis of both in the blogosphere. Winds of Change and The Officers Club being just two of them. I will start with Usama's 'Truce offer", jihadis are forbidden from offering a truce unless it is from a severly weakened position as a survival mechanism till they can regroup to continue the Jihad. UBL explicitely if unwittingly makes this point in offering a truce so they can rebuild Afganistan and Iraq. He must think the rest of us are as stupid as Cindy Sheehan, Code Pink and their molly coddlers in our MSM. His tape reads more like a briefing from MoveOn.org not his accustomed fatwa preaching. Does he really believe our western press? Heck, we don't believe our own press. Does he really think The West would allow him to rebuild Iraq and Afganistan in his vision and that of the Taliban? They are losing and badly with a few more top members joining Allah in Pakistan and the Sunni uprising in Iraq turning against them. They are incapable of making any gains or holding territory and now turf wars are breaking out between AQ and other terrorist gangs like Hamas and Islamic Jihad in Gaza. I got the feeling of a 'hey what about me, I am still alive' missive, I guess he is feeling sorry for himself, cut off from his grand vision, broke and sick and hiding in a cave or mudhut far from the lavish life he once had and having to rely on the generosity of others to survive.
Iran, that is another story, there is much saber rattling going on, even France put the nuclear option squarely on the table if it is attacked in a gesture pointed at Iran, even Russia and China have joined our side of the debate, they need the oil and don't appreciate the apocolyptic retoric coming from Tehran. They would look the other way if we were to make a preemptory strike. Winds of Change and Officers Club offer great analysis of the options and they are not pretty by any means. We free people cannot allow the mad mullahs and an apocolyptic mad man Achmedinejad to gain nuclear capabilty, I prefer the thunder strike bolt out of the blue option by us over Israel. This should not be left to our tiny though powerful ally. You can't negotiate with lieing madmen as the EU has come to figure out thus the bold statement by Chirac of France's willingness to use its nuclear arsenal in its defense. Our president may be a hardnosed cowboy but he is not as crazy as the EU once thought and they are coming around to our side of the table, for our protective shield of course. History unfolds before us though I don't believe it is time for Revelations.
And here are a couple cool videos courtesy of the OC here and here and some other great reads here and here.